The Urantia Book -- Part IV. The Life And
Teachings Of JesusPAPER 132: Section 7.
Trips About Rome

P1466:1,132:7.1
Jesus, Gonod, and Ganid made five trips away from Rome to points of interest
in the surrounding territory. On their visit to the northern
Italian lakes
Jesus had the long talk with Ganid concerning the impossibility of teaching
a man about God if the man does not desire to know God. They had casually
met a thoughtless pagan while on their journey up to the lakes, and Ganid
was surprised that Jesus did not follow out his usual practice of enlisting
the man in conversation which would naturally lead up to the discussion of
spiritual questions. When Ganid asked his teacher why he evinced so little
interest in this pagan, Jesus answered: P1466:2,132:7.2
"Ganid, the man was not hungry for truth. He was not dissatisfied with himself.
He was not ready to ask for help, and the eyes of his mind were not open to
receive light for the soul. That man was not ripe for the harvest of salvation;
he must be allowed more time for the trials and difficulties of life to prepare
him for the reception of wisdom and higher learning. Or, if we could have
him live with us, we might by our lives show him the Father in heaven, and
thus would he become so attracted by our lives as sons of God that he would
be constrained to inquire about our Father. You cannot reveal God to those
who do not seek for him; you cannot lead unwilling souls into the joys of
salvation. Man must become hungry for truth as a result of the experiences
of living, or he must desire to know God as the result of contact with the
lives of those who are acquainted with the divine Father before another human
being can act as the means of leading such a fellow mortal to the Father in
heaven. If we know God, our real business on earth is so to live as to permit
the Father to reveal himself in our lives, and thus will all God-seeking persons
see the Father and ask for our help in finding out more about the God who
in this manner finds expression in our lives."

P1466:3,132:7.3
It was on the visit to Switzerland, up in the mountains, that Jesus had an
all-day talk with both father and son about Buddhism. Many times Ganid had
asked Jesus direct questions about Buddha, but he had always received more
or less evasive replies. Now, in the presence of the son, the father asked
Jesus a direct question about Buddha, and he received a direct reply. Said
Gonod: "I would really like to know what you think of Buddha." And Jesus answered:
P1466:4,132:7.4
"Your Buddha was much better than your Buddhism. Buddha was a great man, even
a prophet to his people, but he was an orphan prophet; by that I mean that
he early lost sight of his spiritual Father, the Father in heaven. His experience
was tragic. He tried to live and teach as a messenger of God, but without
God. Buddha guided his ship of salvation right up to the safe harbor, right
up to the entrance to the haven of mortal salvation, and there, because of
faulty charts of
navigation, the good ship ran
aground. There it has rested
these many generations, motionless and almost hopelessly stranded. And thereon
have many of your people remained all these years. They live within hailing
distance of the safe waters of rest, but they refuse to enter because the
noble craft of the good Buddha met the misfortune of
grounding just outside
the harbor. And the Buddhist peoples never will enter this harbor unless they
abandon the philosophic craft of their prophet and seize upon his noble spirit.
Had your people remained true to the spirit of Buddha, you would have long
since entered your haven of spirit tranquillity, soul rest, and assurance
of salvation. P1467:1,132:7.5
"You see, Gonod, Buddha knew God in spirit but failed clearly to discover
him in mind; the Jews discovered God in mind but largely failed to know him
in spirit. Today, the Buddhists flounder about in a philosophy without God,
while my people are
piteously enslaved to the fear of a God without a saving
philosophy of life and liberty. You have a philosophy without a God; the Jews
have a God but are largely without a philosophy of living as related thereto.
Buddha, failing to envision God as a spirit and as a Father, failed to provide
in his teaching the moral energy and the spiritual driving power which a religion
must possess if it is to change a race and exalt a nation." P1467:2,132:7.6
Then exclaimed Ganid: "Teacher, let's you and I make a new religion, one good
enough for India and big enough for Rome, and maybe we can trade it to the
Jews for Yahweh." And Jesus replied: "Ganid, religions are not made. The religions
of men grow up over long periods of time, while the revelations of God flash
upon earth in the lives of the men who reveal God to their fellows." But they
did not comprehend the meaning of these prophetic words.

P1467:3,132:7.7
That night after they had retired, Ganid could not sleep. He talked a long
time with his father and finally said, "You know, father, I sometimes think
Joshua is a prophet." And his father only
sleepily replied, "My son, there
are others -- " P1467:4,132:7.8
From this day, for the remainder of his natural life, Ganid continued to evolve
a religion of his own. He was mightily moved in his own mind by Jesus' broadmindedness,
fairness, and tolerance. In all their discussions of philosophy and religion
this youth never experienced feelings of resentment or reactions of antagonism.

P1467:5,132:7.9
What a scene for the celestial intelligences to behold, this spectacle of
the Indian lad proposing to the Creator of a universe that they make a new
religion! And though the young man did not know it, they were making a new
and everlasting religion right then and there -- this new way of salvation,
the revelation of God to man through, and in, Jesus. That which the lad wanted
most to do he was unconsciously actually doing. And it was, and is, ever thus.
That which the enlightened and reflective human imagination of spiritual teaching
and leading wholeheartedly and unselfishly wants to do and be, becomes measurably
creative in accordance with the degree of mortal dedication to the divine
doing of the Father's will. When man goes in partnership with God, great things
may, and do, happen.